Could George P. Bush unseat Rick Perry in 2014?

It hasn’t been a month since Texas lawyer George P. Bush filed to run for state public office, but there’s already speculation that, come 2014, the Dubya kinfolk might run against Rick Perry for governor. And he might have a fair shot.

Then again, who wouldn’t?

Perry, gaffe champ, embarrassed his deep red state during the 2011-12 Republican presidential primaries. At one point this year, his job approval rating in the Lone Star State dropped to an all-time low at 40 percent — three percent lower at the time than President Obama’s among Texans. Worse yet, the very same poll showed that 56 percent of registered voters thought Perry shouldn’t even bother running in the 2014 gubernatorial race. But he is running, and, since Perry has made his way safely out of the limelight, the governor’s approval ratings have bumped back up to the mid-50s. For now.

There are already plenty of Texas Republicans gunning for the gubernatorial seat in 2014, and that should be frightening enough for an incumbent who has already been shamed on the national stage (not to mention was nicknamed “Crotch” in his Texas congress days). But, hey, why not throw the nephew of President George P. Bush in the mix? Former Florida governor Jeb Bush wrote in a fundraising letter earlier this month that he “hope[s] you will write a personal check” for his boy who “is considering [running] for Land Commissioner.” But, sources say, George P. has told at least one Texas state senator that he has his eyes on the prize: governor of Texas.

Cash money aside, Son Of Jeb already contrasts Perry in policy—and that’s a good thing. Perry, who famously shat on the United States Departments of Commerce, Education and … um, what’s the third one? Nevermind. The point is, Perry has criticized the Obama-backed Race to the Top program, which provides federal grants for schools based on performance incentives. As for George P., he’s on the board of directors for Uplift Education, a charter-based school in Dallas which benefits from a program like R2T.

So, if George P. and the purse string power behind him can promote the candidate’s sentiment for big government, that might connect with the growing demographic of Texans in the middle. Not that it would get George P. elected (he’s got a ways to go himself), but it’d definitely contribute to putting Perry in a more narrow corner than before. One that he may not be able to get out of.